Last year's ordinations

Fraternity of St. Charles: "Only their ‘yes’ in the foreground"

“Special" ordinations this year for the new deacons and priests. Not in Rome, but on different dates in the places of mission where the ordinands find themselves, without relatives and friends to celebrate.
Luca Fiore

Five new priests and five deacons. The Fraternity of St. Charles is expanding again this year. But, due to the extraordinary circumstances, ordinations will not take place according to tradition in one of the Roman basilicas, in the presence of relatives and friends. A decision that should not be taken for granted which, as the Rector of the seminary, Fr. Francesco Ferrari, explains, has made this step an opportunity to deepen understanding of the reasons and the nature of the vocation of these young people.



"With the outbreak of the pandemic, we wondered whether it was appropriate to confirm the celebration", says Fr. Francesco: "At the beginning of March, it was not clear whether it would be possible to gather in Rome, given that five of the seminarians were abroad on mission, and whether it was possible to celebrate like other years.” This forced those in charge of the Fraternity to refocus on what was essential for the life of the seminarians and the Church. "To decide, we also asked them what they preferred: to be ordained in June, in the places where they were, even at the risk of being without family and friends? Or postpone everything until a later date? The boys themselves were the first to express their desire to take this step as soon as possible, saying they were willing to make the possible sacrifice of being ordained far from home."

Thus, Fr. Riccardo Aletti and Fr. Nicola Robotti were ordained on June 19 in Cologne Cathedral by the Archbishop of the German city, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. In Turin, on June 27, Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia will ordain Fr. Pietro Paiusco. In Washington, at the St. John Paul II National Shrine, the Archbishop of Birmingham (Alabama), Monsignor Steven J. Raica, will ordain Fr. Stefano Zamagni. In Rome, in the Cathedral of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Fr. Andrea Sidoti will be ordained priest, by the laying on of the hands of Monsignor Gino Reali. In the same celebration, Francesco Babbi, Tommaso Badiani (who will go to Washington), Stefano Peruzzo (leaving for Santiago, Chile) and Simone Valentini (leaving for Taipei) will be ordained deacons. Finally, a date is being decided upon for Fr. Javer Rosales, who is in Bogotá, Colombia.

Read also – “Something for the heart”

"Ordination is the moment in which a person offers their life to God without measure, without calculation, with total gratuitousness," explains Don Francesco: "It is also the moment in which the Church welcomes this gift and makes the person an instrument of God's grace among his people. We have decided to privilege this event of grace between God and the person, without postponing it to the future and without running the risk of subordinating it to secondary aspects, however important." For the Rector, this means "putting only everyone's "yes" to God and the Church in the foreground. In this situation, so unexpected and dramatic, I look with amazement at the joy with which these brothers of ours approach ordination, a sign of their availability before God and of the gratitude with which they give themselves definitively to Him."